The present invention relates to a toy figure with various pre-recorded audio sounds that are played upon the activation of one or more sensors or switches.
Toy figures have always been the mainstay as toys for young children. Included therewith, are figures that when activated by a user talk or sing in response thereto. For example, in some instances a switch may be placed within the figure that when pressed causes the toy figure to emit various sounds or noises. In yet other figures, the figure will respond when a magnetic material, placed in another object, is in proximity to a magnetically activated sensor within the toy figure, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,652, and in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/307,578, filed on Dec. 02, 2002.
Nevertheless, there is always a continual need for improvements and novel features not found in the prior art. For example, the ability to provide a figure that includes multiple triggering means to activate sensors and switches that invoke various responses when activated separately and invoke different or surprise responses when invoked in concert or in combination with each other. Moreover, further improvements may be made to provide a toy figure that play sound sequential audio bites that are invoked by repeatedly activating a triggering means, such that each activation of the triggering means causes the next sequential sound bite to play.
In one embodiment of the present invention there is provided a toy figure, which includes a torso and at least a pair of arms with hands. The toy figure further includes a circuit board to store pre-programmed audio outputs and a speaker to emit the pre-programmed audio outputs. The toy figure also includes various switches and sensors positioned at different locations inside of the toy figure, which when activated cause the toy figure to emit various pre-programmed audio outputs. One of the triggering means is preferably a magnet embedded in one of the toy figure""s hand, such that when the hand is positioned in proximity to one of a plurality of magnetically activated sensors, the sensor is activated causing the circuit board to playback and emit through the speaker pre-recorded audio outputs or sounds. The pre-recorded sounds may or may not be indicative of the location of the activated magnetically activated sensor.
In another aspect of the invention, the toy figure also includes a level switch positioned under the other arm. The level switch is also adjacent to a magnetically activated switch. The level switch is activated when the arm is pushed downwardly towards the torso. In this instance, an audio output is played only when both the level switch and the magnetically activated sensor located by the level switch are activated. In addition, when the magnetically activated switch is triggered and the level switch is repeatedly triggered, the circuit board plays a tune in sequential sound bites, where each sound bite is equated to a single triggering of the level switch.